New England Patriots

Why the New England Patriots brought in Marcel Reece for tryout

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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Marcel Reece (45) tried out with the Patriots yesterday. Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports

On Friday afternoon, the New England Patriots tried out five players. Marcel Reece was one of them.

As was reported throughout the circle of New England Patriots media personalities yesterday, Marcel Reece was brought into New England for a tryout on Friday:

This is an interesting development to say the least, as Bill Belichick has raved about Reece in the past:

You put a big guy on him, he’s probably going to have a hard time matching up with Reece’s speed and quickness. Put a smaller guy on him, he might match up with his speed and quickness, but it would be hard to match up with his size. I’d say that’s a dilemma. Who do you have that has the same skill set as Reece?

Alright, now that we have remembered how much Bill likes the 31-year-old, let’s dive into why the Patriots tried out Reece.

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Right now, things are looking good right now in the backfield with LeGarrette Blount and James White taking touches. James Develin has been equally excellent snowplowing for the ball carrier, and Brandon Bolden is doing his special teams duty per usual. And then there’s the impending return of Dion Lewis. So why are the Patriots thinking about adding a new back to the group?

The answer is simple: injury insurance. If any of those guys were to go down with an injury, Reece could be the first guy the Pats call.

The reasoning behind reason is his versatility. At 6-foot-1, 250 pounds he weighs as much as Blount but possesses better catching ability than the straight-line ball carrier. Reece can be described as a matchup nightmare because he has enough tools in his box to whip out an advantage over any defender that covers him.

So that’s pretty much the gist of it. This writer is a huge fan of the idea of the Patriots filing away the thought of signing Reece and following through with it in the event of a significant injury to the running back group.

What do you think of the prospect of Reece landing in New England sometime this season? Comment below.

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